רבי ישבב הסופר

Rabbi Yishbav HaSofer was a tanna who lived and taught in the Land of Israel. He appears in the Mishnah and Gemara discussing matters of halachah, often in exchange with Rabbi Akiva. In the second chapter of Chullin he addresses the laws of shechitah: where an animal’s slaughter was rendered invalid in various ways, he rules that it is a neveilah, while Rabbi Akiva holds it to be a tereifah. Rabbi Yishbav frames a general principle in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua — that whatever is disqualified through the act of slaughter itself is a neveilah, while one whose slaughter was proper but became disqualified through some other cause is a tereifah — and the Gemara records that Rabbi Akiva conceded to him.

He is also brought in connection with the limits of charitable giving. In Ketubot and Arachin the Gemara recounts a case of one who wished to give away more than a fifth of his wealth, whose fellow would not allow it; one tradition names that fellow as Rabbi Yishbav and another names Rabbi Akiva, reflecting the teaching that one should not squander more than a fifth lest he come to depend on others.